Financial Action Task Force (FAFT)

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of national and international policies to prevent and combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The FATF promotes international standards and the effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The FATF (i) issues Recommendations targeted at preventing and repressing such crimes (considered to be international standards in these matters), (ii) promotes mutual assessment of the observance of said standards (iii) establishes countermeasures with regard to jurisdictions with relevant deficiencies and (iv) identifies new risks and methodologies to fight these criminal activities.

As of 2012 FATF Recommendations are part of a single document available in ‘Related information’ on this page.

Assessment of the Portuguese system as regards the prevention and repression of money laundering and terrorist financing

In 2014 the FATF initiated the fourth round of mutual evaluations to the money laundering and terrorist financing prevention and repression systems, based on the Evaluation Methodology approved in 2013. Portugal’s evaluation should take place between March and October 2017. The Portuguese money laundering and terrorist financing prevention and repression systems have already been assessed within the scope of the FATF in 1994, 1999, and 2006. The main results of the 2006 evaluation can be viewed in the Third Mutual Evaluation Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism.

In accordance with the procedures set out by the FATF, Portugal updates – every two years – the information reported in the context of the third round of mutual evaluations, through Follow-Up Reports identifying the main developments throughout the reference period.